July 7, 2015

The House has overridden, by a vote of 107 to 40, Gov. Paul
LePage’s veto of legislation aimed at encouraging community based solar
electric power generation projects in the state.

The original legislation was far more sweeping than the
measure that got bipartisan support in the Legislature's Energy, Utilities and
Technology Committee. It received a House vote of 125 - 19. It was then passed
unanimously in the state Senate, after it was amended to remove a new set of
complex definitions and new procedures for the Public Utilities Commission to
follow in approving small, renewable energy projects.

The intent is to bolster a 2008 energy law that was supposed
to encourage community-based solar projects, but didn't achieve the expected
results. Rep. Jennifer DeChant, a Democrat from Bath, sponsored the original
bill, and said the PUC had approved some projects under that original law, but
not a single one has broken ground to construct a generation facility, and the
PUC has not acted to force the firms to do what they said they would.

"For the last five years, this program has been
neglected and right now we are going to tell them that the PUC must move in an
expedited manner to clear that out, certify projects that can actually realize
the intention of the bill," DeChant said.

She says non-performing projects can be decertified by the
Public Utilities Commission if they are not operating by the end of 2018.
Dover-Foxcroft Republican Norman Higgins serves with DeChant on the Energy
Committee. He says the bill is a good compromise.

"It is what I refer to as the Lazarus bill - it kept
coming back for consideration," Higgins said. "We spent the good part
of four weeks on multiple work sessions looking at trying to fix what had been
a well-intended bill that had not operated very well."

He argued the bill will put Maine back on track toward
encouraging solar development. But Gov. Paul LePage, in his veto message,
criticized the measure because he believes it will result in power being priced
higher than ratepayers would otherwise be likely to pay - the governor
estimated $15 million to $18 million a year over the 20 years of the contracts
allowed in the measure.

Rep. Beth O’Connor, a Republican from Berwick, says that is
too much to ask ratepayers to pay when many can’t pay their existing bills.
"Forty-five thousand disconnections, and $13 million in debt - I will not
subsidize a handful of special interest projects on the backs of the poorest of
poor, and the ratepayers of the state of Maine."

Biddeford Rep. Martin Grohman, a Democrat, says it is not
certain that the contracts will result in those higher costs for ratepayers
that are anticipated by the governor.

"It’s easy to extrapolate from today’s prices and say that
this would have a negative impact on energy prices going forward, but you could
make the opposite argument in the winter time when our prices are higher,"
Grohman said. "Many of these projects will actually come in lower than the
market rate."

Supporters of the legislation say it has strong support in
the state Senate. But the Senate, dominated by Republicans, has yet to take up
the governor’s veto of the bill.